Energy storage devices are becoming more important with the increasing generation of energy from renewable sources. Supercapacitors, also known as electrochemical double-layer capacitors, are devices that store electrical energy via polarization of an electrode/electrolyte interface. The operating mechanisms for supercapacitors include electric double-layer capacitance (EDLCs) and pseudocapacitance. Supercapacitors have a higher power density and a longer lifetime than batteries, but often suffer from a lower energy density.
Carbon aerogels have received considerable attention for energy related applications such as electrode materials for supercapacitors due to their unique combination of properties, including tunable morphology, high surface area, electrical conductivity, chemical inertness and environmental compatibility. Recent studies have shown that, through the incorporation of nitrogen into the hexagonal carbon lattice, nitrogen doping of some carbon nanomaterials can increase their energy density by increasing their specific capacitance. Currently, nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials are mainly produced in solid state by high temperature annealing in the presence of ammonia. Such method, however, suffers from high energy consumption and low nitrogen incorporation.
Thus, a need exists for the development of a more energy efficient method for synthesizing nitrogen-doped carbon aerogels with a higher and controllable nitrogen content.